Review of Chaosium’s classic Call of Cthulhu scenario, Paper Chase, originally written by John Sullivan and revised by Mike Mason.

In Short: Included in the Starter Set as the first scenario for good reason, Paper Chase is very easy to run and play for a pair of beginners, but with a unique spin that gives it legs for more experienced players and Keepers as well.

Spoilers-lite for players and Keepers:

Paper Chase covers eleven pages of the Starter Set’s third booklet, nine pages of straight scenario text, one page of stats, and a full-page illustration. The beefy page count hides a short and simple scenario that really only takes two or three hours to get through if the players doesn’t meander too much and the Keeper doesn’t add anything. Ample Keeper notes and rule explanations bolster the page count significantly, and are well placed to make running the scenario as smooth as possible for a beginner Keeper.

The scenario is best suited for a single investigator, making it a one-on-one ‘duet’ session, though an additional player could tag along. More than two players would of course be possible, but may make things both too easy, while at the same time overcomplicating the session. If a larger group was dead set on playing the scenario, the Keeper may have to think up adding some extra content to satisfy the player count.

The scenario concerns investigating the theft of books from an estate under the care of a man named Thomas Kimball, as well as the disappearance of the estate’s last owner, and Thomas’ uncle, Douglas Kimball. From there the investigator is left to their own devices, but with lots of hints and clues given from the outset so as not to overwhelm a new player that might not be used to free-reign investigation.

As suggested in a Seth Skorkowsky video, on my run of the scenario I changed the investigator and Thomas’ relation to Douglas Kimball. While I’ll go into more details in the spoiler section below, making the relationship familial put much more weight on the scenario’s events, and gave the player much more roleplaying opportunities. Even if you’re a player going into this scenario, it may be worth suggesting this to your Keeper.

Overall, Paper Chase is simple and smooth enough to make a for a perfect first scenario between a single player and Keeper, while having a unique tone that keeps it appealing to more experienced players.

You can find Paper Chase included in the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, available on DriveThruRPG, Chaosium’s store, Amazon, or your local game store.

Spoilers follow, but before you go, maybe you would be interested in some of the below reviews or replays?
MJRRPG scenarios, Chaosium-released scenarios, Miskatonic Repository scenarios, Japanese scenarios

Paper Chase is on paper very straight forward (pun very much intended thank you very much). The investigator needs to uncover why books are disappearing from Thomas Kimball’s library, and maybe find out what happened to the missing Douglas Kimball as well. While experienced players will put their detective caps on and start hunting for clues and questioning everyone they come across, and new players are given obvious clues and hints on how to conduct an initial investigation, it is entirely possible for an investigator to simply plop down in the estate’s library and wait for the thief to return. With some successful Stealth rolls, they can follow the thief and unravel the whole mystery pretty much right away.

But with encouragement from the Keeper, the investigator should go about some detective work before night comes around. They can poke around the estate library to see what books are missing, talk with Thomas, a neighbour, or the grave keeper at the nearby cemetery that butts up against the estate property… With all this work, the investigator likely gets the idea that whoever, or whatever, is stealing books is originating from the cemetery. And with enough investigating and some clever guess work, the player could figure out who the perpetrator is.

Tracking the thief isn’t particularly difficult unless the investigator gets violent. In a fun twist, there isn’t any villain in this scenario, and if the investigator is calm and patient, the thief is content to have a little chat for a final scene. If the investigator is overly suspicious or violent, then they could have a fatal fight on their hands, but the scenario goes through great lengths to avoid this unless the player is dead set on it.

The suggestion from Seth Skorkowsky to make the investigator a relative of Douglas Kimball makes this final scene much more impactful, as it turns out the thief is Douglas himself. And not only that, but Douglas is transforming into a ghoul, and this is their final goodbye before he goes to live underground forever with the corpse-eaters. Without a familial connection, this ending is a twist, but not an especially emotional one. It’s certainly creepy, but with a shrug the investigator can just say goodbye to Douglas and be done with it.

For my run, I had the investigator be Douglas’ daughter, and changed Thomas from a nephew to Douglas son – and obviously the investigator’s brother. This was my player’s – my wife’s – first foray into not only Call of Cthulhu, but roleplaying games in general. Having this direct connection to the story gave her a firm foundation to roleplay off of, rather than requiring her to completely make up how or why her character is involved in the story.

For the setup, I had Douglas be a largely estranged father, with neither the investigator nor Thomas being much involved with their dad for years until he disappeared and Thomas inherited the house. Douglas was not a particularly bad father, but he was always distant and somewhat disinterested. He loved his children, but didn’t seem to understand how to care about them, much less anything else in life besides his books.

This change not only makes the farewell scene hit much harder, but makes the whole scenario have a sort of bittersweet nostalgic tone, as the investigator reunites with their brother and explores their old childhood home. It also lets the Keeper make greater use of Thomas as a guiding or backup NPC, as they are more inclined to help the investigator if they seem stuck or ask for assistance. For me and my player/wife, this started a three scenario mini-campaign, continuing into Vengeance from Beyond and ending with Mr. Corbitt, and Thomas stuck around as a companion NPC until the end. It was a nice NPC-player relationship, with the two of them sharing the odd experience of their father becoming a goat-dog man that lives in the dirt.

Overall, I heartily recommend Paper Chase as not only great introduction to Call of Cthulhu, but with a few tweaks, also as an unexpectedly heartfelt little story in an otherwise horrific game.

Thank you for reading. Before you go, maybe you would be interested in some of the below reviews or replays?
MJRRPG scenarios, Chaosium-released scenarios, Miskatonic Repository scenarios, Japanese scenarios